Normalcy
by Lyuh
Summary: With only a tiny bit of hesitance, she put her hand on his shoulder. And then she pushed.  Challenge! 1/10


Sue knew something was amiss the moment Wolt dropped his coffee. The fear didn't come so much from the way his hands were shaking, but rather, the uncharacteristic, fleeting expression that passed by his features seconds later. "Is something bothering you?" she quietly asked, not wanting to disturb anyone who may have still been sleeping nearby. They were very near General Roy's personal tent, especially; waking him early was the last thing anyone wanted to do.

The sun had yet to peak over the tall mountains to the east, though that wasn't saying much about the possible hour; Ilia was dark and unforgiving during its long-lasting winters. Some days only saw an hour of sunlight, sometimes even less if the solstice was near. Placing any blame on the time was irrelevant, though; Wolt was always, _always_ up an hour before dawn, and that was on a bad day. Sue knew this well, as she'd given up several hours of rest to spend time with him each morning since befriending him in Ostia.

His silence was also very unusual. He had a tendency to babble mindlessly until she had escaped the death grip that sleep tended to hold on her, and just that had happened every morning for – what, had it been a year already? It wasn't that he was tired this morning, though. The frustrated curse he grumbled under his breath came too quickly for that. "No, I'm fine," he told her anyway.

Despite his usual insistence that nothing ever bothered him _ever_, she could plainly see the way his legs wobbled when he attempted to kneel down and fetch the cup in the snow. With only a tiny bit of hesitance, she put her hand on his shoulder.

And then she pushed.

The shove shouldn't have been enough to knock him over, but oh, how it did. She bit back a laugh, only because she knew something was very, very wrong, though it was quite hard to contain her amusement at the bewilderment in his eyes as he brushed away the snow that had caked in his bangs. "What was _that _for?"

"You're a terrible liar."

Another brief expression passed by his features, and yet again, it was just _wrong_ when compared to his normal demeanor. He tried to hide it right away with a forced, crooked smile, but that couldn't erase what she had already seen. "I don't know what you mean, Miss Sue."

"You look awful."

"I _knew_ I forgot to comb my hair. Nothing ever gets by you, does it? I was hoping nobody would notice."

"You say that as if anyone _could_."

His embarrassed laughter was short-lived, but genuine. "That was just mean." He attempted to get to his feet once more, declining any acceptance from the hand she offered. "Really, though, I'm fine. You don't need to worry."

Sue crossed her arms after his rejection of any assistance in his plight to remove himself from the deep, wet prison below. At least that part of him was normal, but leaving her hand extended was still just a little too awkward for her liking. "You're hurt somewhere, aren't you?" Wolt stopped his useless struggle and looked up at her. The way his eyes shone in what remained of the starlight at that moment was enough to confirm her suspicions; he hadn't wanted anyone to know. He'd been caught. "Tell me where you're injured."

"I'm not." There was no hiding it now. His voice was true this time, full of the earnestness she'd come to know in the long, trying months they'd spent together. There would be no more of his usual nonsense, no more dodging questions of his well-being as was his nature.

The edges of her lips pulled into a soft smile as she knelt down beside him. The cushion of snow at her knees crunched out a complaint against her movement, but she paid it no mind. "Good. What's wrong?"

He sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm not used to the cold, I guess. Pherae has really mild winters, so up here in all this ice... I'm getting sick."

"Why don't you let anyone know?"

"Who else would make sure that Master Roy is properly taken care of?" He did have a good point there, she silently admitted. Nobody else was _half_ as dedicated to their cause. "Besides, it's not bad – just my throat, mostly. When I tried to swallow just now, though, the heat from the coffee... It hurt up in my ears."

That would explain his balance problems. The knowledge that he wasn't secretly bleeding to death was reassuring, but on the same note, if he wound up with anything worse and they were forced into battle, the chances of him faring well were less than slim. That thought sent a chill down her spine; had she not lost enough friends to the war? Just thinking about losing his goofy smile and endless optimistic one-liners was enough to send her reeling back toward that breaking point.

Ignoring the urge to cling to his arm and whisper her fears, she settled for taking one of his hands into her own. Despite the frigidity of their surroundings, his palm felt warm, _comfortable_. "Go sit by the fire. I'll go find something to make you feel better until it's time to wake General Roy up."

"I really don't need anything," he insisted, but her mind was already made up and there would be no arguing with her. He knew that, but he was acting his usual self, and that did much to assure her that he was still fine, at least for now. Together, they rose to their feet and stood in silence until she pushed him off in the direction of the orange glow beyond the nearest tents.

She couldn't help but notice how his fingers remained entwined with her own as long as she allowed them to be. As she stepped back to bid him a temporary farewell, she caught another peculiar expression on his face, a different shining in his eyes, but somehow, these didn't have the same horrible feel as the previous few.

Grinning despite herself, she ducked away, silently reveling in the knowledge that, if she turned around, he would still be standing there – he wasn't gone, he was okay, she could help him – and that he would watch her until she was out of sight. He always did, after all, and a little head cold wasn't going to change that.

* * *

Ye gads. I don't even know what to say other than YEAH FREEWRITING.


End file.
